Argentina records shock September inflation figure of 6.5%

Shocked by an inflation rate of 6.5% last month, Argentina’s treasury minister was insisting Friday that the September result was an anomaly

He sees inflation in his country peaking over September-October 2018

A major culprit is the value of the peso which has almost halved since the start of this year

BEUNOS AIRES, Argentina - Shocked by an inflation rate of 6.5% last month, Argentina’s treasury minister was insisting Friday that the September result was an anomaly, and coupled with October will in fact represent the top of the range.

Argentina’s inflation is running at an annualised 40.5%, helped along by a depreciating peso and higher consumer utility bills due to reductions in government subsidies to power providers. The country is in recession, its government bonds are being shunned, and its currency slammed.

The peso has almost halved in value since the start of the year, although it has recovered some ground this month. The currency was fetching 36.55 to the U.S. dollar around the close of trading in New York on Friday, 13% higher than what was being quoted at the start of the month.

“Inflation in the months of September and October will mark the high point for the year, corresponding with the foreign exchange instability that we’ve been through since April,” Dujovne,” Argentine Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said Friday.